A man who was tried on a rape charge this week was sentenced to prison Friday. ...more

July 26, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The mother of a missing 2-year-old Orlando girl argued with her mother and said she didn't know the whereabouts of her child in a telephone call from jail released Friday. ...more

July 25, 2008

man who was tried on a rape charge this week was sentenced to prison today. Just not for rape. A jury deliberated two hours before finding Steven Vanwart not guilty of sexual battery, false imprisonment and aggravated assault. The 42-month prison sentence came as a result of Vanwart's no contest plea to an identity theft charge. Vanwart, 42, entered the plea Friday while the jury was deliberating the rape charges. Keeping the identity theft charge separate meant jurors considering the rape charges didn't hear some evidence. Among the evidence kept from the panel were booklets investigators found when they searched Vanwart's travel trailer. Among the titles were "Vanishing Point, How to Disappear in America Without a Trace" and "How to Get Lost — and Stay that Way," records show. ...more

July 25, 2008

Dallas Dwayne Carter, 44, had both hips replaced and was on disability, and whenever he tried to work, the pain just got worse. He had two sons he had to take care of, and he had $6,000 in unpaid bills. So Carter says in a suicide note he wrote before he fired 30 shots at Pinellas Park police Saturday night. They returned fire, killing him. The note was released this afternoon by the Pinellas Park Police Department. ...more

July 23, 2008

Pinellas Park police shot and killed a 44-year-old man who fired 30 shots while holed up in an apartment late Saturday night. ...more

July 21, 2008

Police in Pinellas Park shot and killed a 44-year-old man who fired 30 shots while holed up in an apartment late Saturday night. ...more

July 20, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Police are investigating a body found this morning on the west side of Azalea Middle School, in the 7800 block of 22nd Avenue North. ...more

July 12, 2008

EMPLOYEES CAN'T USE TOBACCO AT WORK OR HOME ...more

July 12, 2008

SEBRING - Several Highlands County Sheriff's Office dispatchers were moved out of their second-story room in the Sheriff's Office building Tuesday evening after "an odor of smoke" began circulating around the room, Sebring Fire Chief Brad Batz said. Batz said a smoke alarm went off in the Sheriff's Office radio room as a burning electric odor spread from a utility room through the air conditioning and into the dispatcher's room. Despite the severe storm and reports of six other alarms caused by the storm in Sebring, he said he could not determine what set off the alarm. No fire or burned equipment was found. ...more

July 10, 2008

TAMPA - For the third time in six days, dispatchers for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue have coached anxious parents in delivering a baby. ...more

July 5, 2008